Indian Food Cooking Win

I don’t know if it was the ghee that I just purchased on a whim or the fact that I’ve slowly become a serious Indian-food-lover, but on Tuesday night, I decided that tonight would be the night I tried my hand at cooking Indian food chez moi. I was a late bloomer when it came to Indian food eating, so I guess it’s only natural that I’d wait awhile to attempt to recreate one of my favorite dishes at home.

I knew I wanted to make Chana Masala (the famous chick pea dish), but I also tossed around the idea of making another fave of mine – Chicken Tikka Masala. However, at the top of my priority list was making the homemade naan I saw on Cooking Channel awhile back. Ultimately, I decided to not bite off more than I could chew so my first Indian-food-cooking experience would be a pleasant one.

And pleasant it was! I had a major Indian Food Cooking WIN! 🙂

I watched the video for naan before starting. It looked simple enough. And it really was. Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Mix the two together…get your hands a little messy…let the dough rest. Form and roll out.

I kicked festivities off by starting on the naan since it needed 1 hour to rise. I figured I could cook the rest of the dinner while the dough rested.

Soon enough, it was time to shape and bake. I love how the shape of naan doesn’t have to be perfect.

By the way here’s the recipe I used to make the naan. I didn’t see any information about baking temperature, so I put my oven on broil and used the bottom third rack. I watched it carefully so as to not let my precious naan burn. I worked too hard to let it burn!

The naan baked quickly and I brushed it with melted butter after removing. I also covered the naan with a kitchen towel to keep it warm.

One of my proudest moments of the evening was seeing real Chana Masala in my own pot in my own kitchen.

My Indian friend gave me a super easy recipe, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Instead of doing Chicken Tikka Masala, I did something faster and simpler – Indian-Spiced Grilled chicken. I have a recipe for this, too!

I also made some white rice and steamed broccoli to complete the meal.

And because my sweet tooth was calling, I whipped up a quick bowl of Indian-Inspired rice pudding with saffron. Nommmmm! I’ll share the recipe for this, as well, if any one is interested.

I was so happy with the successful night of cooking. Another plus? Hubby ended up loving the Chana Masala, which totally surprised me. But, I’m happy about that, because it will make for a delicious and affordable vegetarian dinner for us in the near future. Woohoo!

Reader question: What’s your favorite Indian dish? Have you ever made it at home?

I am not a huge fan of really hot food, but occasionally I will get a strong craving for a mild curry. Sometimes I don’t even follow a recipe and just have fun with my spice collection. I love that spices are so cheap and can just bring something like the humble chickpea or some vegetables to life. I’ve been looking for a nice chana masala recipe though, so looking forward to seeing yours 🙂

I don’t particularly like Indian food because I don’t like the way it smells or tastes (too spicy) however, your photos make it look very enticing and its great that you were able to make it all homemade! Nothing beats that! Congrat’s! I have a feeling you are going to have your own cooking show someday!!

That looks super good! Can’t wait for the recipes 🙂
My faaave dish is Malai kofta but it is so complicated to make that I consider it a restaurant-only treat 🙂 As far as easier stuff goes, I love anything with spinach and paneer!

I thought the naan was pretty easy. It’s maybe the same level as making focaccia or biscuits from scratch. I thought it was pretty easy. It would be worth trying at least once. The video shows you the level of work, too.

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